A Fresh Start
by MidnightRain6593
Summary: Somewhere in between losing everything and trying to pick up the pieces, they fall into each other. Post season 5.


**Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries nor am I making any profit from this whatsoever.**

**A/N: So, this is a bit of a new experience for me because I've never really written TVD fics outside of Bonnie's character, but I've been super into this pairing lately and wanted to give it a try. **

**This takes place after the season 5 finale.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It's non-stop crying for weeks. That's pretty much all she does. She doesn't even know how there's anything left in her to cry.

She had lost both Damon and Bonnie and they were gone and never coming back. How's she supposed to deal with that?

Nobody really knows what to do with her.

* * *

After a few months of depression, Elena begins to pull herself up.

She declares pre-med as a major. If she lies to herself, she declared it because she wants to follow in her father's footsteps and help people. If she's honest to herself, she chose it because of the work load, because of the beautiful and heavy distraction it would provide form the mess that is her life.

She throws herself into her work and she knows that everyone is relieved because they think that she'll be okay now.

* * *

She finds herself in a Catholic church nearby campus one day.

When her parents were still alive, her and Jeremy would go to a non-denominational church with them every once in a while.

It occurs to her that only she's attended church after they died was for a funeral.

She's not sure why she even came here, but she finds herself lighting candles in memory of her lost loves ones.

It's appalling how many candles she lights; two for her parents, one for Jenna, one for John, one for Damon, and one for Bonnie.

She becomes so lost in her thoughts that when she notices someone lighting a candle nearby her, she jumps and almost knocks the candles over.

When she looks over, she sees that it's Tyler. He lit even more candles than her; two for his parents, one for his uncle, and many more for what she assumes were all the friends he had lost.

They sit next to each other in a pew, not saying a word to each other.

* * *

They have this weird thing where they meet once a week at the church and light candles and sit next to each other in silence.

"It's weird how life is supposed to go on," Elena says to Tyler one afternoon in the church, finally breaking the silence. "I mean, there's no new threat like there always has been and I'm not waking up every morning wondering if today is the day we all die. So life should be going on, shouldn't it? I mean, even though I still come to light candles for them, I don't really cry anymore and I'm pursuing pre-med and everything. But…no matter what you do, you never seem to quite be able to get away from all the memories."

"No," he replies. "You can't."

"I'm so sorry for everything that you've lost," Elena says sincerely, she reaches out and takes his hand. "If there's anyone that didn't deserve it, it's you."

"Neither did you."

Their fingers entwine.

* * *

"I saw that you got on the football team," Elena says during one of their weekly meetings at the church.

"Yeah, well, now that I'm human, but still have the werewolf gene, I've got to release all this pent-up aggression somehow," he replies.

"That's good," she says. "It's very…normal. Almost like old times."

"I think we could all probably use a little more normal."

"Yeah, we can."

* * *

They actually start doing things together outside of their weird, little random meetings at the church.

He'll sit with her in the library while she frantically tries to study her organic chemistry. He talks and jokes with her and distracts her from her work, but she's okay with that.

She sometimes sits in on his football practice and some of the games.

It's a weird little friendship that they've struck up, but she likes it.

The first time they kiss is when Elena tells him she passed an organic chemistry exam she had been convinced she'd fail.

He breaks out some beer to celebrate and before she even thinks about what she's doing, she grabs his face and presses his lips to hers.

"I'm sorry," she says, feeling a little mortified when she breaks away from him. "I shouldn't have done that."

"It's okay," he replies. "I don't mind."

She grins bashfully and tucks a lock of chocolate hair behind her ear. He grins back at her.

* * *

They end up having sex after one of Tyler's football games.

He's gross and sweaty, but Elena doesn't even care.

She wastes no time, ripping his shirt clean down the middle, scraping blunt fingernails over the ridges of his abs.

"This is kind of weird, isn't it?" She says, in between kisses. She lets out a sigh when his tongue traces down her neck.

"Our lives are kind of weird in general," he reminds her with a grin, his big hands slipping slightly under her tank top.

"Good point," she says, breaking away from him to slip her shirt over her head and shuck of her pants. He takes his pants off as well before taking her face in his hands and pressing his lips to hers.

She breaks away and with a grin, uses her vampire strength to toss him onto his bed. He blinks in surprise and she climbs on top of him with a grin, bending down to meet his lips again.

His hand slides up her flat stomach to cover one of her bra-covered breasts and squeezes lightly before reaching around to unhook her bra.

Elena lets the bra slide off of her and Tyler tosses it somewhere off to the side. They kiss again and she trails her lips down his throat and his chest, grinning against his tan skin when she hears him try to suppress a gasp.

He turns them over and latches his lips onto one of her nipples, causing her to cry out in pleasure. His fingers reach to tweak the nipple that isn't being pleasured by his mouth.

Tyler then kisses his way down her stomach and slides her panties off before diving in between her legs. He's so eager to please her, putting all of his effort into making her climax from her mouth. When his lips wrap around her clit, it takes almost no time for to come undone.

She's a little dazed when he brings his face back up to hers. He grins before kissing her. She can taste herself on him and it's such a turn on.

Elena reaches between them, gripping him, stroking him firmly, and causing him to groan a little. She spreads her legs wider in an invitation and she sighs in pleasure when he slides into her. His movements are hard and rough and it feels _amazing._

When she feels herself burst into pleasure again, she clutches at him tightly while being mindful of her vampire strength. He follows not too far behind her, burying his face in the hollow of her throat and growling, sending shivers down her spine.

It's the first time they have sex, but it certainly wouldn't be the last.

* * *

She knows Caroline knows that she's been sleeping with Tyler. Elena's a little surprised that Caroline doesn't say anything. It shouldn't be up to Caroline to say anything though, she knows.

"I've been sleeping with Tyler," Elena confesses to Caroline aloud one night in their dorm room.

"I know," Caroline replies.

"Are you mad?"

"No," the blonde says with a sigh, turning on her side to meet Elena's eyes. "You both deserve to be happy."

Pause.

"I've fallen in love with Stefan," Caroline confesses.

"I know."

"Are you mad?"

"No," Elena replies with a soft smile. "You both deserve to be happy."

* * *

"I've been thinking of moving to Denver," Elena tells Tyler one night as she lies beside him, her brown locks forming a halo around her head against the pillow. It's something she'd been thinking about for a while, but never said aloud until now.

"Yeah?" He replies.

"Yeah. I mean, I have old family friends that live out there and there's good pre-med and medical schools," she explains. "I just—I don't want to be in Mystic Falls anymore or anywhere in Virginia, for that matter," she confesses. "I just wanna go far away and start over."

"Okay, let's do it."

She blinks in surprise and turns so that she's hovering above him. "You mean you want to come with?"

"Yeah," he replies, reaching out a hand to brush her messy hair out of her face. "I think it could be both of us; a fresh start and all that crap."

Elena snorts softly. "You're such a romantic."

He grins and pulls her down to meet his lips.

* * *

They wait a little bit before actually moving to Denver. Even though Elena could compel everyone to let her and Tyler transfer in the middle of a semester, she doesn't because she wants normalcy.

When she asks Jeremy to come with, he's angry at her.

"They've only been gone a few months and you're already giving up on them, like they meant nothing? Don't you even miss them a little?" He yells at her.

"Of course I do, Jer," she says, tears filling her big brown eyes. "But I'm tired of always feeling dead inside. We have to pick up the pieces of our lives somehow."

"I'm not going," Jeremy replies adamantly, jaw clenched.

She nods. "If you ever changed your mind…"

He ignores her.

She gives him a stiff hug and asks Alaric to please keep an eye on him and help him in any way they can.

When Tyler and Elena get to Denver, they find an apartment, adopt a cat, and have Sunday night dinners with her family friends.

It's all so normal and domestic and Elena loves it.

She continues to pursue her pre-med degree and Tyler quickly becomes a football superstar at their new college.

About a year and a half later, Jeremy finally moves out to them, slowly coming to terms with the fact that Bonnie's never coming back. He finally moves on with his life and even starts seeing a girl that he meets in college.

Nearly three years later, when she's graduating with her Bachelor's and preparing to enter medical school, she gets a call from Caroline telling her that Bonnie and Damon are back.

* * *

The drive back to Mystic Falls is the most awkward thing ever and it's taken all in silence.

Both Jeremy and Elena have no idea what to say to their respective exes. It's not like their relationships ended because they wanted to.

When they pull up to the Salvatore boardinghouse, Jeremy slowly gets out of the car. When Elena goes to do the same, Tyler takes her by the hand, stopping her.

"Look," he says. "I don't…I don't want to make any assumptions, but if you plan on getting back with Damon, please just tell me and don't lead me on."

Her mouth hangs open a little and she shakes her head. "I'm not—I'm—" She cuts herself off by grabbing his face and pulling him to her, kissing him deeply.

"I love you and I love the life we made together," she tells him. "But there are things that need to be settled."

Tyler nods and they get out of the car together.

"Bonnie!" Elena exclaims when they step inside the boardinghouse. She sweeps her small friend into her arms, clutching her tightly.

"I missed you to Elena," Bonnie says, hugging Elena back. "But I do need to breathe."

Elena laughs and let's go of her friend.

"You're crying," Bonnie says, reaching out to wipe away the tears falling down Elena's cheeks.

"I know. I just never thought I'd see you again," Elena says, hugging Bonnie again.

They spend the next hour talking. Bonnie tells her what the other side is like and Elena tells her about how she lives in Denver with Tyler and Jeremy.

She's not sure what to say when Damon walks in the room.

She gestures towards another room to give them some privacy (and she's sure that Jeremy wants to speak with Bonnie on his own, too).

"You and Tyler, huh?" he asks. "I didn't see that one coming."

"I don't want you to think that I forgot about you. I missed you so much, I really did," Elena says quietly. "But it's been four years and I didn't think you'd ever be coming back. I had to pick up the pieces of my life somehow."

"I know," Damon replies. For once he doesn't have a smart or quick reply. "I wasn't expecting—I didn't think…me and Bonnie literally got blinked out of this dimension and into another, so…I can't expect anything."

It's surprisingly mature for Damon, if she's being honest. She'd expecting him to be angry and maybe even go after Tyler. She supposes that four years in wherever he and Bonnie had been has changed him.

She looks at him and sees that he's intently focused, listening to what Bonnie and Jeremy are talking about in the other room and something suddenly occurs to her.

"Did something happen between you and Bonnie?" Elena asks Damon before she can stop herself. Maybe it's a far-fetched idea, but they had been stuck with each other for four years and the most dire circumstances had to make even the most bitter enemies more amicable towards each other, right?

"That's a _very _long story."

She's sure it is. She's actually a little surprised that he didn't even try to deny it, though.

"But, uh, to give you the ending, there's nothing between me and judgey now."

She doesn't really know what to say to that.

"You're different," she tells him.

"Not _that _different," Damon replies. "I'm still a terrible person."

Elena snorts. "Whatever you say."

They rejoin Bonnie and Jeremy in the other room and say a round of goodbyes, and promises to come back to Mystic Falls again sometime.

"Ready to go home?" Elena asks Tyler and Jeremy when she gets in the car.

Jeremy sits in the back seat, staring at the boardinghouse, looking extremely pensive.

"You know, if you want to stay here for Bonnie…"

"No," he replies. "I suppose a part of me does regret giving up on her, but…we're such different people now that…it's better this way."

Elena takes Tyler's hand in her, entwining their fingers and they begin the drive back to Denver.

* * *

**A/N: So there you have it! Admittedly this also works as a spin-off/prequel-ish thing of sorts for a multi-chapter Bamon fic I've been working on (I'm tentatively titling that fic "Lego House", but it could change). Anyway, Tyler and Elena won't make much of an appearance in that fic (neither will Jeremy, for that matter) because I couldn't quite fit them in how I wanted to, but I still wanted to tell their story.**

**Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed this! Thanks for reading and, as always, reviews are very much appreciated!**


End file.
